Cantilevered display shelves are a popular and convenient way to display merchandise in a retail store environment. Typically, a vertical set of supports allows the shelves to be selectively positioned in a variety of heights and spacings.
Retailers may prefer to display different types of products in different orientations. Some products, for example, appear more enticing and are better displayed on a forward sloping shelf so that a perspective view of the product is available to the customer. Other products may preferably be displayed on a flat horizontal shelf due to varying marketing strategies or logistical requirements, for example due to product packaging configuration. Therefore, having an adjustable shelf would allow a retailer to accommodate both display styles with a single shelving unit. An adjustable shelf unit would also permit retailers to use the shelf unit in different configurations at different times to best suit the product being displayed.
Many existing adjustable display shelves involve complex or intricate structures to allow the adjustment of the display shelf, including numerous parts. Such designs make the adjustable shelves more difficult to produce and use. For example, special tooling may be required to manufacture the adjustable shelf, and if the manufacturer desires to change the slope angle of the shelf, the tooling may need to be readjusted. These tooling and design considerations add to the expense of such adjustable shelving units.
Existing adjustable shelf units may be difficult to use. A retailer desiring to switch a display shelf from a horizontal position to a forward sloping position may have to make laborious adjustments in order to do so. This causes increased labor costs for the retailer who must allot employee hours to make the appropriate adjustments. Alternatively, the retailer may simply forego the advantage the adjustable shelf attempts to provide in order to avoid making the adjustments.
Thus there is a need for a practically designed and easy to use adjustable cantilevered shelf.